daynote Daynote - Fri 4 Oct I'm not entirely sure what I was talking about when this picture was taken. Pretty sure I wasn't talking about the size of a fish I once caught but it was a fairly rambling monologue at the start, so who knows. ON DECK: This morning was
daynote Daynote - Thu 3 Oct No daynote yesterday as I was doing a school visit! My first ever and it was a lot of fun. I went to Earlston High School down in the Borders and met the Advanced Higher English class. I talked a bit about my career so far and how I got
daynote Daynote - Tue 01 Oct Well, isn't this a fancy new website? As noted in a brief post yesterday, I'm in the process of migrating a bunch of stuff to a new platform called Ghost, so there's going to be broken links and such all over the place for
website Website migration in progress I've switched my website and newsletter to a new service called Ghost. Although really, it's not actually new to me, I briefly hosted with Ghost when they first launched before it even had a newsletter component. Ghost should make it a LOT easier to quickly create
newsletter What I'm up to - September 2024 What it's like to become a published novelist. Settle in - this one's a long one.
daynote Daynote - Mon 30th Sep 2024 I woke up to my own face in my podcast app this morning, which was exciting - I'm on this week's episode of the excellent Write and Wrong podcast, havering about my books, my influences and the slightly twisty route to getting A RELUCTANT SPY published.
daynote Daynote - Fri 27th Sep 2024 I had a lovely day down south yesterday. I was in Bristol for my day job (where my very lovely team celebrated my book launch, I gave a talk on my parallel career as a UX designer and I had a very nice pasty for lunch) and then caught the
daynote Daynote - Thu 26th Sep 2024 An early start today, waking up in central London on the Caledonian Sleeper. And as of this writing, I'm just about to arrive in Bristol for my day job. ON DECK: A cheeky 1,728 words this morning on the train to Bristol. Something about trains really works
daynote Daynote - Wed 25th Sep 2024 It's a beautiful, crisp morning, but I didn't get out for a walk today, which makes me sad. Still, I'm heading off to London this evening, so I'll get plenty of steps in later today. ON DECK: A solid 1,346 words
daynote Daynote - Fri 20th Sep 2024 September weather has properly set in after a few days of unseasonable sunshine and heat - as evidenced by the soaking wet cat that woke me up this morning. One of those mornings where I have no memory of turning off my alarm and just wake up late, so I
daynote Daynote - Thu 19th Sep 2024 Hard to believe, but A RELUCTANT SPY has been out in the world for a full calendar week as of this morning. That's kind of wild to me. I had been warned by various author friends about the huge crash that comes after a book launch, and I&
daynote Daynote - Wed 18th Sep 2024 I use this image on my daynotes whenever my brain feels a bit like this, and today is one of those days. I'm not exactly in a slump, per se, but definitely a bit of a post-release haze/comedown. To forestall any concerned queries, this isn't
daynote Daynote - Tue 17th Sep 2024 It's audiobook release day for A RELUCTANT SPY! The graphic above is from Audible, but it's also available on a range of other services, including Kobo, Libro.fm and Google Play. The book is narrated by Norman Bowman who has done a cracking job. It'
daynote Daynote - Mon 16th Sep 2024 And wow - back to reality. I'm back at the day job today after an incredible weekend at Bloody Scotland. I was a Crime in the Spotlight reader on Saturday, and I got to read from my novel to several hundred people in the Albert Halls just before
television Carnival Films options 'A Reluctant Spy' for TV This news broke a little late yesterday for me to get a post up before heading to my launch event in Edinburgh, but as my social media notifications will attest, it's kind of big! I'm very, very pleased (and still a little stunned tbh) to announce
events A Reluctant Spy - Launch Day Well, the day is finally here. My debut novel A RELUCTANT SPY is out! Something I've been working towards for thirty years (somewhat inconsistently at times) has finally come to pass. You can buy it pretty much everywhere, but my Linktree has a whole range of options, including
daynote Daynote - Wed 11th Sep 2024 - Here we go! Well. Here we are. One day to go. My attention is all over the place, some really lovely reviews are dropping and I am very, very excited. ON DECK: I'll be honest, I have absolutely not stuck to my plan to try and get a little writing done
daynote Daynote - Mon 9th Sep 2024 - A Signing in Brighton I was quite, quite unprepared for what it would look like when I saw all of the Goldsboro Crime Collective special editions in one place. It was an incredible honour to be selected as the launch title for this brand-new subscription book box, and an even greater honour to be
daynote Daynote - Sun 8th Sep 2024 Well, here's a rare daynote on a Sunday, for a couple of reasons! The biggest one is above, which is a review of my book in today's Sunday Times. The thing about press coverage is you quite often don't actually learn whether you'
daynote Daynote - Fri 6th Sep 2024 Last day of my day job today, then we're into Release Week Proper. Ahhh.